Sprinkler cap



A. M. STEVENS SPRINKLER'CAP Filed May 16, 1955 Oct, 21,1958

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11w E1mm. v ALICE M. STEVENS BY Maw HER ATTORNE- United iitates Patent SPRINKLER CAP Alice M. Stevens, Ojai, Calif. Application May 16, 1955, Serial No. 508,346 1 Claim. (Cl. 215-99) This invention relates to clothes sprinklers and especially to the type that can be attached to the bottle neck of standard bottles adapted to be sealed by pressed-on metal caps.

Sprinklers known in the prior art for use with bottles have been of the easily lost insertable type which is'removed completely from the bottle for refilling or of the complicated and cumbersome multipiece type made up of two or more parts which are individually fabricated and then assembled. In the instant invention, a neck band, perforated head, hinge, and lifting tab are integrally formed into a sprinkler that minimizes the labor of removing the cap portion for refilling and at the same time affords a rigid, permanent securement to the bottle neck to prevent loss of the unit.

An object of the invention is to provide a unitary sprinkler cap which may be readily moulded in one piece in completed form.

An additional object is to provide a one piece mouldable sprinkler cap having a neck band for gripping the neck head of a standard bottle top and a perforated head portion for gripping the top bead of the bottle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle cap formed of resilient material and having a tab for ready displacement of the top portion to permit filling the bottle permanently supporting the cap.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following description.

Fig. 1 is a top view of a sprinkler embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the sprinkler shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross section through the sprinkler and the supporting bottle neck taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the sprinkler.

In referring to the drawings, the sprinkler head is flexibly sustained at the rear by the neck hinge 12 and connected to the neck band 14 while to the front the sprinkler head 10 is provided with a finger nail tab 16 for the releasement of the sprinkler head 10 so that it may be swung back for the filling of the bottle.

The top face 18 of the sprinkler head 10 may be provided with a series of perforations 20 while the inner circumferential surface 22 of the sprinkler head 10 is provided with a circular gripping edge 24 which is slightly tapered inwardly so as to clamp the circular cap gripping top bead or bulge 26 of the bottle 28, thus securing the sprinkler head on the bottle while in use and permitting the perforations within the sprinkler head to align themselves with the bottle throat 29 for the discharge of the bottle contents. Similarly, the inner circumferential surface 30 of the neck band is provided with a circular gripping edge 32 which is slightly tapered inwardly so as to clamp the circular neck bead or bulge 34 of the bottle.

In operation, assuming a standard bottle is to be provided with the invention, the neck band is slipped down over the neck bead 34 so as to grip the bottle neck as indicated in the several drawings, then with a slight pressure upon the face 18 the circumferential gripping edge 24 snapped over the top bead 26 of the bottle to align the holes 20 with the discharge opening of the bottle.

' The flexible neck hinge 12 acts as a retainer for the sprinkler head 10 to the neck band 14.

Assuming that the bottle after operation becomes empty, and it is desired to refill the same, the user slips his finger nail beneath the tab 16 of the bottle side to grip the tab and lifts, allowing the circumferential gripping edge 24 to be released from the bottle top bead 26. The flexible neck hinge12 allows the sprinkler head 10 to be bent back sufliciently to refill the bottle. The tension of the neck hinge when the bottle is filled and the hold on the head is released will cause the sprinkler head 10 to move back into position on the bottle where a slight pressure upon. the face of the sprinkler head will cause the same to rigidly attach itself to the bottle neck.

The preferred material for the sprinkler is rubber; however, it will be understood that many other substances will have the resiliency required to fit over the beads of a bottle and be held in place thereby. Examples of other materials that have proved satisfactory for this application include polyethylene, tetrafluoroethylene polymers, and similar plastics and polymers which have some resilience and suflicient strength to permit the neck hinge to bend a reasonable number of times without breaking or tearing. Although the described structure has been found useful as a clothes sprinkler, it is obvious that the unit may be fabricated without holes in the sprinkler head 10 whereby an easily opened bottle cap that can not be lost is provided for standard bottles.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

In combination, a standard cappable bottle having a top bead and a neck bead spaced therebelow, said top bead and neck bead having a convexly contoured outer surface, a cap having a circular gripping edge slightly tapered inwardly snapped over and enclosing said top bead, a neck band having a circular gripping edge slightly tapered inwardly snapped over and enclosing said neck/bead, a flat hinge joining said cap and said neck band, said cap and neck band hinge moulded as a unit of a resilient polymer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 639,832 Shearman Dec. 26, 1899 2,652,283 Roop Sept. 15, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 695,400 Great Britain Aug. 12, 1953 

